What is mariology? E-Book

Jakob Munck

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 311

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Mariology is the world's oldest kind of spirituality. This book is a collection of articles about the use of Mariology in thinking and in practical life. The index includes such diverse topics as "Mary and the great religions", "If Mary was prime minister", "Catholic and Orthodox Mariology", "Catholicism Protestantism and Mariology", "Mariology and vocation", "Mary's seven pains", "Mariology and culture", "Showdown with the Jesus-religion" and "Mariology and marketing". The book also includes a glossary, to make it easy to understand the topics being discussed.   The book is a good introduction to Mariology - the oldest spirituality in the world.

Leseprobe

Content

1. INTRODUCTION

2. WHAT IS MARIOLOGY?

Will

Does free will exist?

Knowledge

Ethics

Spirituality

The soul

3. MARY AND THE GREAT RELIGIONS

Hinduism

Judaism

Christianity

Islam

Conclusion

4. IF MARY WAS THE PRIME MINISTER

Will

Knowledge

Ethics

Spirituality

Conclusion

5. CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX MARIOLOGY

6. MARIOLOGY AND ROBOT PSYCHOLOGY

7. CATHOLICISM, PROTESTANTISM AND MARIOLOGY

1. Catholicism and Protestantism

* Petrine office

* Free Will

* The two regiments

* Life after death

* Art

* Bible

2. Mariology

8. HOW TO GET FORGIVENESS FOR YOUR SINS

9. MARIOLOGY AND VOCATION

10. MARY'S SEVEN SORROWS

1. Militarism

2. Racism

3. Materialism and consumerism

4. Pornography and abortion culture

5. Individualism and harassment culture

6. Demonism and robot psychology

7. Fundamentalism

8. Conclusion

11. MARIOLOGY AND DIETING

1. How do you establish a realistic goal?

2. The four dynamics

* Will

* Knowledge

* Ethics

* Spirituality

3. Conclusion

12. MARIOLOGY AND CULTURE

1. Colors

2. Lines

3. Seriality

4. Posture

5. Picture

6. Gender roles

7. Healthiness and disease

8. The four dynamics

* Will

* Knowledge

* Ethics

* Spirituality

9. Conclusion

13. PRINCIPLES OF MARIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

14. WHAT IS MARIOLOGICAL ECONOMY?

1. What is non-material wealth?

* Will

* Knowledge

* Ethics

* Spirituality

2. Conclusion

15. HOW TO GET A GOOD JOB

1. Dynamics

* Will

* Knowledge

* Ethics

* Spirituality?

2. Conclusion

16. IN CONFLICT WITH THE JESUS-RELIGION

Conclusion

17. MARIOLOGY AND MARKETING

* Will

* Knowledge

* Ethics

* Spirituality

18. MARIOLOGY AND LEADERSHIP

1. Dynamics

* Will

* Knowledge

* Ethics and spirituality

2. How to optimize the dynamics?

3. Conclusion

19. MARIOLOGICAL GLOSSARY

1. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is to show that Mariology - the doctrine of the Virgin Mary - can be used throughout life by all people everywhere. Mary is a common iconic figure uniting Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christianity with Islam. Nowhere is there written more about the Virgin Mary than in the Qur'an, and although Muslims usually have a slightly different picture of the Blessed Virgin, she is however one of the most significant points of contact between Islam and Christianity.

Mary is a figure that unites people. She is in contrast to the theology seeking to create division and hostility between religions, because we do not need more division and conflict. Therefore there is a reason to hope that interest in the Virgin Mary and her role in the history of culture as well as in our individual and joint Spirituality will continue to grow. It is very much needed.

Mariology is about the world, and the world is full of problems and issues that people deal with. These problems can often shed light on this in a constructive way with the help of Mariology's set of values and dynamics that the reader will be presented with in this book. What Mariology is particularly good at, is uniting the spiritual with the practical aspect of life. It's about getting ethics, emotions and finances to make ends meet and to overcome the differences between the material and the spiritual.

Mariology is not an alternative to this world, it is a bridge that unites this world with a higher reality that all can enjoy, if they wish, Mariology is therefore in conflict with the Lutheran idea of the "two regiments" and it serves as an inspiration especially in four key areas, which we call the four dynamics: will, knowledge, ethics and spirituality.

I have made the Mariological model of the four dynamics with inspiration from the way the Christian church and the arts have used the Mary figure throughout history. The starting point is the fact that when cultural history, throughout two thousand years has found it interesting to portray Mary with precisely those characteristics she has, it is because these assets are important for humans.

The story about Mary has always been used to educate children and to inspire adults who were unsure if they could live up to their own ideals. Mariology is a means of upbringing and a method in which to see themselves. But it is also a tool to change humanity, because we are never done evolving. We can always learn something more.

Mariology is universal. It has existed from the beginning of time and will continue to exist till the end of time. It is not restricted to one religion and cannot be used to argue that there is one particular book or one particular theology that leads people to heaven, while all the others lead to damnation. Some people may believe that God has arranged the world this way. But he has not. Not the God I believe in anyway.

The purpose of Mariology is clear. It's about bringing people to salvation, and to give them a taste of heaven. Salvation means emancipation, and heaven begins in the life we live here and now. Mariology is a tool, and this book contains a series of examples of how this tool can be used. I am certain that you can even find some more useful ways. But remember that Mary's power and God's will go through your head and your hands. Mary loves you, Mary calls you and Mary inspires you. But Mary does not live your life for you. You are responsible for your own future.

Let me end this introduction by stating that I know the translation from Danish to English is far from perfect. But I did not have the time and the money to make it any better, so - dear reader - I ask for your forgiveness. I think the book is readable, and that is the most important thing.

Jakob Munck

2. WHAT IS MARIOLOGY?

Mariology is an ideology, a spirituality, a worldview and human perception, which is inspired by the biggest icon and greatest ideal, we know from European cultural history: Virgin Mary.

Mariology is not a religion and it is not something to be believed in. In fact one can use Mariology and be successful with it without believing in anything. But the prerequisite is of course, to follow the ideals - the four dynamics - that the Mariological model is based upon. Mariology contains no forms of magic. It only works if you use it.

The four dynamics, which can also be called principles or axioms for how a person should live are: will, knowledge, ethics and spirituality. Mary is our ideal and these properties are intended to be a concentrated version of the Virgin Mary’s own properties. They are the following:

Will

There are three factors that determine a person's behavior: nature, nurture and free will. The free will is - in Mariology - actually free and the expression does not just concern a certain form of conditioning (programmed control), where Man has learned to say: "I have free will". Some psychologists and biologists think that this is how Man functions, but the supporters of the Virgin Mary think otherwise. No matter what a person says, this person has free will and thereby an opportunity to change his life. And with this follows a moral responsibility, not just to oneself but to others as well.

It is important to understand that free will is dependent on information. The person, who chooses to take a vacation in Spain, has had a choice between different destinations and he has not been forced to choose Spain in particular. It is an expression of his own choice that he chooses to go to Spain; it is not a coincidence. The decision of free will is not random. The man has a reason for choosing this country. It could be because the prices are low, the weather is nice or that he knows someone who has been there before. His free will is thereby affected by information and by his rational reflections. He acted in his own best interest and that of his family. He made a choice based on free will but he also acted rationally.

The decisions based on free will are determined by the knowledge of the individual person and therefore it is not difficult to understand, that you can influence a person by controlling the information he receives. This is the content of mass psychology that we see in the advertising industry. That is what happens in the hateful ideological atmosphere, when politicians prepare for war. The first part of a war-campaign is always to spread hatred towards the opponent and portraying its leader as a bad person. When this is accomplished, the citizens of the country preparing for war, can more easily use their free will to make dramatic decisions, for example to risk their own lives in a war.

Mariology is in contrast to what is usually meant by the term "psychology", at least if this notion is defined in such a way as is done in the highly-recognized Scandinavian Publishing Company Gyldendal’s Large Encyclopedia (2013).

It states that psychology is:

"The teachings or science of an organism’s psyche or on the mental life phenomena as reflected in people's thoughts, feelings, needs, memories, attitudes, imagination, dreams, action, behavior and practical activities as well as the biological and cultural conditions and the civic and social influences and conditions of these phenomena"

Note that this definition does not mention a word about free will, but on the other hand argues that human thoughts, feelings and actions are "related to their biological basis and cultural conditions". That means the same thing as one usually reads in more truncated definitions of psychology, where this is defined as:

"the science of human thought and behavior, as determined by their heredity and environment."

However this definition is wrong. It states nothing about free will. Man is seen as a biological machine and this does not comply with reality.

What separates Mariology from psychology is that psychology does not recognize the objective existence of Man's free will. If you ask a psychologist he will most likely say that he "personally" believes in the free will. But the science that he deals with sadly does not. Therefore free will is not mentioned in Gyldendal’s definition of psychology. It is not an oversight or an accident; it is an expression of psychology's wish to become a science and in science free will does not fit in, because it cannot be predicted.

Thereby Man is - according to psychology - a form of biological machine, whose actions are determined by its genes and the social influences to which it has been subjected. It is therefore the study of these objective factors that is psychology's task, because it is attempting to use the same method that is used in physics. And in physics there is no free will, therefore the psychologists do not think that it exists in psychology either. You can talk about it and pretend that it exists. But actually it does not exist.

Therefore we called this so-called psychology "robot psychology". This psychology deals with robot people who - luckily - only exist in the dreams of researchers and the imagination of psychologists. Not in reality.

It has to be confessed that there are many types of psychology and I cannot rule out that there are psychologies that both in theory and in practice, believe in free will. But this is in individual cases, so it does not belong in the dominant teachings. Therefore they are not represented in Gyldendal’s definition because they are only a minority.

When we Mariologists call deterministic psychology robotpsychology, it is because it portrays humans as being robots. If the robot does not do what its owner wants, it must be repaired. And it is exactly this task for which psychologists are hired in the modern welfare society, where fewer still believe in God and free will, but where the belief in psychology is bigger than ever before. Everybody is interested in psychology as it is viewed as the solution to all kinds of problems. Many people believe that psychology has the recipe to create better people, but it does not. Psychology as defined by Gyldendal is a teaching of robots. It is about programming people in a new way and therefore one of the most popular surges in modern psychology is so-called "Neuro Linguistic Programming" (NLP). It cannot be put more clearly.

Does free will exist?

I have to admit that there is no scientific proof that free will exists. But on the other hand, there is also no proof that it does not exist. Free will is in itself in contradiction to the scientific way of thinking because in science all phenomena have a purpose and thereby all human thought and action also has a purpose, and this purpose has a previous purpose and so on. It is called serial causality. There is an infinite chain of cause and effect, and science is always trying to find the link between cause and effect.

In physics it is about finding out why the atoms move as they do, in astronomy it is about finding out how the universe was created, and in psychology it is about finding out why a person acts as he or she does. In all areas there is a search for objective reasons, because we are certain that they exist. The problem is that they do not always exist when it comes to people.

In Mariology the baseline is not to execute empirical science, and the purpose of furthering the Mariological way of thinking is not to compete with psychologists, or to invent a better psychology than the one others have invented. The purpose of Mariology is to teach people to understand themselves and others in a better way and to use this understanding to create change, so that people become healthier, more productive and happier. The fundamental tool to create this change is the belief in Man’s own free will.

In Mariology it is fundamental for the true image of Man to have free will. If Man did not have free will, he would not have a moral responsibility for his own actions and thereby there would be no difference between good and evil. This was the conclusion Martin Luther came to in his book On the Bondage of Will ("De servo arbitrio") from 1525 and Lutheran determinism harmonizes well with modern genetic-based psychology and its claim that you can find genes for everything, including crime, political opinions, sexual preferences and marital happiness.

According to robot psychology's and biology's notions, the difference between people is not caused by people making different decisions that have different effect on their lives. The differences are congenital and cannot be changed. Therefore people have no responsibility as to how their life unfolds and in the ideal society all citizens are therefore equal no matter who they are and what they have accomplished. No one is responsible for anything and therefore everyone should be treated the same. They attempt to create a paradise for robots and that is the philosophy that is behind the political system in Denmark (and the other Scandinavian-Lutheran countries) today. Every politician will deny that this is the case but do not criticize them for it. They are ‘lying’ because they do not know what else to do. They themselves are robots!

Mariology is not the same as Catholic faith but it is not the same as Lutheran faith either. The crucial thing for the Mariologist’s way of viewing people is that man has free will and we thereby have a responsibility for our own actions. We are capable of doing good or bad and we are the ones who choose. In this context, if God does not exist then it is not important but if he does exist, let us hope that he judges us based on what we have chosen to do with our free will and not what we have been forced to do. If Lutheran faith and robot psychology are true, then we will all end up in hell and hell starts now. Therefore Luther developed his teaching of the two regiments where it is stated that God lives in his own regiment and that people live in an entirely different regiment where Satan rules. It is this world that robot psychology is developed to serve us and it does the job well.

Robot psychology sees humans as a biological machine and therefor you will not here psychologists talk about the term "spirit" in any other context other than as an expression of Man's subjective experience of his own identity. According to robot psychology, the existence of a human spirit is as unlikely as the existence of free will. Robots do not have a spirit or a free will and therefore therapeutic psychologists will always take as their starting point, the attempt to change Man's environment, give them education, new friends, a new job and new social relations. Because humans are, according to this teaching, nothing more than a product of their heritage and surroundings. And heritage cannot be changed.

The differences between Mariology and (robot-) psychology have consequences in all aspects. In Mariology there are for example, wide boundaries for what is considered normal. Mariology does not focus on mental illnesses, which according to Mariology, often are a rational form of behavior, viewed from the patients viewpoint. Mary's son Jesus was considered insane (Marc 3:31) and if he had lived today, he would most likely be in an institution.

However mental illnesses can disappear as fast as they occur. When the patient no longer has an advantage in being sick, their symptoms disappear. This happens for example, during times of war where the resources for the psychiatric sector are cut and it is necessary to act rationally in order to survive. We know that this leads to the number of mental patients dropping close to zero.

Seen from Mariology's perspective, the so-called mental illness, behavioral issue or criminal behavior, can in many cases be eliminated through a simple decision based on will, which the patient can take if he sees a rational reason to do so.

If the life he is offered as a healthy person is better than what he is offered when sick, then the possibility for him to get well is significantly bigger. This is because mental illness is in most cases a choice and so is healing. Those who believe in the existence of free will, will to a greater extent give free will a practical meaning and that is exactly to what Mariology aspires. Not to win a theoretical discussion against robot psychology, but because the belief in the reality of the free will is the gateway to change. It is about changing closed minds to accept free will and thereby changing robots into human beings. That is the purpose of Mariology and thereby also of this book.

Knowledge

The key to change is knowledge. Free will cannot exist if it is not bound in knowledge, because the will demands that there are options from which to choose. And you must have knowledge about all of your options. Otherwise free will is an illusion.

If you wish to change human behavior, it is not about - as some psychologists believe - digging into a person's unconscious needs and tendencies but about dealing with what a person has learned and believes to be real. Behavior is always rational and to change a person's behavior, you have to give the person new opportunities or new information about the options he already has.

Knowledge is therefore the key to both the good and the bad. If you wish to change your life, you have to change your knowledge about what has led you to your current lifestyle. New knowledge leads to new behavior, if this knowledge is real. If it is just a repetition of what you already know, it has no effect.

Change demands new knowledge and it can be difficult to replace the old knowledge with the new, because the old knowledge can be very deeply rooted and based on real or imaginary experiences.

Learning new knowledge is - in theory - always possible and when people acquire new knowledge they will automatically change. The art of dealing with people is therefore prominently identical with the art of relaying your own knowledge to these people and thereby contributing to their change. Sometimes this is called manipulation but this word has a negative connotation which is unfair, because people love to be changed. They will give up almost everything to change and they are willing to pay a lot of money, because change is, for a lot of people, the only way out of the hell that their life has turned out to be for them.

Ethics

The presupposition of all ethics is that man has a free will. Those who believe that man can be compared to a computer, is therefore not in favor of ethics, because a computer has no ethics. It is not a living thing, and therefore it cannot have a moral responsibility. Hence it cannot be punished; no matter how much damage it does to its users. It is the users who are responsible for what they do with the computer. Not the computer.

Once this has been established, we must also repeat that it cannot in anyway be proved that a man has a free will. It can be believed or not believed, but it cannot be proved. Mariology's doctrine about man's free will is therefore based on faith and not on any scientific study of human thought or behavior. But if our opponents criticize us, in order for us to maintain this indulgence point of view that man has a free will, despite the fact that it cannot be proved, then we can simply say to them that this reliance on "faith" also applies to themselves. For no engineer in the world can prove that a computer or a stone or a mobile phone or a light bulb does not have free will. We believe that this is not the case, but we cannot prove it. Maybe it actually has a free will!! There are actually religions of the Hindu type who believe that everything has will. Even a stone has free will and the stone's behavior or non-behavior will therefore determine its fate in the next life. Christian people normally do not believe in reincarnation, but there are many people in the theosophical and Hindu context that do.

For the followers of Mariology, it is not the stone which is the big problem, it is Man. We are confident that humans have free will, because we can feel it in ourselves that we are able to choose. We do not need to read theoretical books or study the psychology of doctrine to understand free will, because we can just test ourselves. I can decide that I will make a cup of tea, when this sentence is completed and it is actually what I will do. Free will is not something that I have to "believe" in, because I experience it in my own life. I am able to make decisions and to implement them in my life. I can only do this because I have a free will.

Free will therefore leads to an ethical obligation. Unlike our intellectual opponents (followers of Lutheranism and robot psychology), we believe that the ethical plays a big role in a person's thoughts and actions. The fact is, that exposing a human being to injustice, is very harmful and the harm suffered is not only in having physical damage. It is also about the very uncomfortable feeling that something bad has happened, which you or another person does not deserve to have happened. This feeling is very painful and can be nearly impossible to get rid of.

Therefore, no pain is worse than that which consists of seeing one’s loved ones suffering, and this satanic knowledge has been practiced by the Romans when they crucified Jesus and it is used in many of today's wars. It is not enough to kill people; it's about humiliating them and to inflict upon their friends and family a horror picture that they will never forget. And this can be done only because Man - by nature - wants good for himself or others. To see others suffer is torture in itself.

When Mariology sets high the ethical standard, it is because we know that people are always very concerned about the difference between good and evil. Some people would rather not admit it, but when it comes down to it, they are often even more moral than those who speak about morality all the time. The front page of several of the big newspapers is reserved daily for stories that can arouse the reader's indignation, and thereby his moral sense. Whether what you said is true or not makes no difference. It's about igniting the flame of anger in the reader because people love to be offended about other people's moral ills. Their own ills however, they prefer to ignore.

Spirituality

The last dynamic in the Mariological model is about spirituality and contrary to what the followers of robot-psychology tells us, we all have a natural interest in the search for spiritual truths, because these truths mean a lot to us when we are reflecting about moral, death and the meaning of life.

Most Danes are member of a church and profess to some kind of religion. But spirituality is not limited to the habits and rituals that this religion practice, it is also about private conceptions about life and death, spirits, ghosts, reincarnation, poltergeists and other spiritual phenomena, as most people know.

What makes a difference between Mariology and the more traditional forms of religion is the universalistic. It is Mariology's claim that if God and heaven exist, then all humans merge into this ‘sky’, no matter what religion they follow. That is what I believe and that is what Mary tells me when I pray to her. In my opinion one religion is better than the rest, but the best society is the society where every person has the freedom to believe and practice his own religion if he can do so without harming others. This is of course under the precondition that he does not limit other human beings to do the same.

Mariology has no formal theology, no dogma and no teaching that one should live by, one way or the other. All humans can be saved, no matter what they believe in. What makes the difference between good and bad spirituality, has not much to do with spirituality itself, but rather with the people who cultivate it.

The soul

The crucial difference between Mariology, and its Lutheran and mechanistic opponents, is the question of the soul. If humans are evil, then their souls must be evil too, but if man does not have free will, then he has no soul at all. That is why it is crucial for Mariology, to maintain the strict conviction, that man has a soul. We cannot describe this soul in objective terms, but we know that it exists. It is not part of the physical body, but it lives in and with the physical body. Only after death does it definitively separate from the body.

Mariology's supporters can say just as little as all other forms of spirituality about the nature of the human soul, because we cannot describe it objectively. And it remains so. Everything indicates that it will never be possible to describe the soul objectively, because if Man should be able to describe and understand his own soul, it has to mean that we are in possession of another and yet higher form of spiritual intelligence that could understand this soul. Because no intelligence can "understand itself" for the simple reason that it requires larger computational resources to understand a phenomenon, more than this phenomenon itself has available.

A human being can understand an ant, but the opposite is not possible. A wise man can understand a stupid man, but the reverse cannot be done. If the understanding and description of the spiritual must be complete, it will require a greater intelligence to create this understanding, than the intelligence of which the spiritual itself consists. And it's impossible. This may sound a little convoluted, but it's pure logic. It therefore also applies to computers in as far as no computer can predict another computer's behavior without being more sophisticated and complex than that other computer. A lower intelligence can never understand a higher intelligence. An intelligence can only understand another intelligence, if the first intelligence is higher than the second. Therefore, we can never learn to understand our own soul.

It is not Mariology's task to try to describe the spiritual, just as it is not its task to provide prophetic viewpoints about life after death. There is reason to hope that such a life exists. But what this life is about, how it shapes itself and what happens to our soul, etc., we can only guess. Some believe in a paradise or hell, others believe in the possibility of a more temporal punishment for mortal sins, which (in the Roman church's opinion) will be spent in purgatory. Others believe that the human soul is incarnated in a new body, and that life thus continues in new forms.

It is not Mariology's job to take a position on these issues, and every man should have his own opinion, and - if he desires - try to convince others of its truth. But what is undeniable in the Mariological doctrine is the belief in Man as a living being, and thus on the spiritual level, as being what separates us from machines and our deceased ancestors.

Mariology sees man as a spiritual being.

Man is a spiritwho has a body

Both the body and the spirit play a role in our lives and our wellbeing. Man's value is therefore not limited to its physical user value, or the price of the chemicals of which that the body are built The human personality and its value are the offspring of the fact that each person is totally different from all others, and that this man cannot be replaced or copied.

To understand Mariology is like placing yourself into human life's mysteries, and therefore one can hardly imagine a more demanding activity. But without knowledge about our fellow creatures, and ourselves, we fumble around in the world as blind zombies in a jungle. What we get out of life if so, will depend on coincidences, and our possibilities to do good for others and ourselves will be very limited. Therefore, we should praise Mariology, which our ancestors invented and developed, to teach us how to get the right approach on life, for ourselves and our fellow man.

Mariology is constantly evolving. It contains some important truths about human existence, but it only provides a setting. To learn how to know people requires more than just the study of Mariology. Man can be described meaningfully based on knowledge, commitment, ethics and spirituality, but each of these dynamics is extremely complex. Certain things we can understand, others we cannot. Call them mysteries. The Danish scientist Niels Steensen (1638–86) said:

"Beautiful is what we see, more beautiful is what we understand, most beautiful of all is what we do not comprehend.”

3. MARY AND THE GREAT RELIGIONS

Mariology is not a religion; it is a view of humanity and spirituality. Supporters of Mariology come from all religions. There is no contradiction between Mariology and the great religions. Mariology is universal, but it does not mean that Mariology is a kind of "superior religion" or that Mariology is better than the confessional religions. It is a universal spirituality that all humans can use and enjoy. Mariology is nothing more than what those, who love the Virgin Mary, make it. The edition, which will be presented here, is the version, in which the present author takes pleasure, but for me personally, it is also important to use Mariology as a basis for a critique of certain aspects of the confessional religions. To create traditions and a social community is the overall purpose of most religions and no one can understand their theology and practice without having that purpose in mind. When I in the following section, will review the most important differences between Mariology and the major religious, it is then with the aim to make things clearer, both for myself and for the reader. And the starting point that I have is my own understanding of Mariology, which is - as I see it - the statement that:

God, eternity and the spiritual world exist

all human beings have a free will and they strive toward the good

all men are equal before God, and therefore have the same moral rights

all people, no matter to which religion they belong, can be saved, both in this world and in the next

God is just and sinners will be punished, but he also loves everyone and he can forgive everything.

Mariology - as I see it - is a view of humanity that focuses on the four dynamics (will, knowledge, ethics and spirituality) and a set of ethical ideals. The culture and the world in which I wish to live, have these principles as its starting point, but this world is not identical to the world that exists today. Therefore Mariology is not only a set of ideals, but also a tool in the culture war. No matter where in the world it occurs, Mariology functions as a corrective to the dominant religions, and because Mariology is part of these religions, it also casts a critical light on them. And that is what we will look at in what follows here follows, as we go through the major religions in historical order.

Hinduism

Hinduism is not one particular religion, but the sum of religions that exist in India. The term "Hindu" means Indian, and being a big country, there has always existed many different religions in India. Common to most of them is the belief in many Gods, reincarnation and karma.

But Hindus also consider Christianity and Islam as parts of Hinduism, because these religions are practiced in India. Monotheism is acceptable, also for a Hindu, and the purpose of Hinduism's many gods is often explained as being giving the faithful the opportunity to choose their own supreme God. No one has any reason to be dissatisfied in the Hindu world because anyone can choose his own God!

One of the things that characterize Hinduism, which relates it to Mariology, is that it understands salvation as something acquired through practical living. What matters is not what religion you belong to or in which book you believe. One is not saved by "faith alone" but through the actual life one leads and the sacrifices he is willing to provide for the family, for the community and for the spiritual world. That one does good deeds towards others will return (karma), and the eternal series of rebirths leads the spirit towards a higher level, where it eventually will be united with God. What make a difference comparing monotheistic religions doctrine about Mariology with Hinduism, is the Hindu teachings on reincarnation. This doctrine stands in contrast to monotheists who believe that we only live once and that after death we will go to heaven or hell. In Hinduism, punishment does not exist and the consequences of our evil actions is nothing but this: We are reborn at a lower level of the development line. Life is considered to be a learning process, and just as it applies in schools and ordinary educational institutions, so it applies - according to Hinduism - also in eternity: He who does not learn has to take the same class once again. He, who is not a human in the right way, has to therefore try to live again, possibly at a lower level. If it is too difficult for him to be a human, he will be reborn as an animal.

There are several interpretations of what Hindu reincarnation learning is about, but it cannot be concealed that this teaching is potentially in conflict with the Mariological dogma of free will. If you believe that what you are doing is wrong and all your pain is based on reincarnation and the fact that you have to "learn" something, then evil is predetermined and is therefore not caused by free will.